York City 0 – 2 Chesterfield
With Monday night’s game between Scunthorpe and Fleetwood ending in a draw, Tuesday night gave Chesterfield the opportunity to take top spot, away at York. The first half performance from Chesterfield was that of a promotion winning side, an early goal from Eoin Doyle allowed Chesterfield to keep the ball without the need to put on any real pressure. York’s Oyebanjo was denied by a great save from Tommy Lee before Dan Gardner latched onto a headed clearance from a York corner before sprinting the entire length of the pitch and playing in Gary Roberts to slot the ball past Pope to seal the game for The Spireites. The second half was much of the same for both sides, the home team never really looked like scoring and Chesterfield always gave the feeling that they could move up a gear if needed.
York City
| Nick Pope Poor kicking added pressure on the York defence, possibly could have done better with the first goal but made up for it with a great save just a few minutes later. | 5.5 |
| John McCombe The former Port Vale man dealt well with any aerial balls from Chesterfield but struggled with the movement of the Spireite front 4. | 6.0 |
| David McGurk Similarly to McCombe dealt with any aerial passes but struggled against the pace and movement of Doyle and Roberts. | 6.0 |
| Keith Lowe Playing in a back 3, he struggled against the pace of movement of Chesterfield. | 6.0 |
| Lanre Oyebanjo Struggled to provide any width for the Minstermen, replaced early in the second half. | 5.5 |
| Ben Davies Did fairly well up against Dan Gardner but the wingers pace and movement tested him. | 6.0 |
| Josh Carson Found it very tough up against Ryan and Morsy, York appeared to miss out the midfield in attempting the get the ball forward. | 6.0 |
| Russel Penn Looked the most likely to do anything from the York midfield but struggled to play the front two in. | 6.0 |
| Adam Reed Was left chasing shadows for the majority of the game and resulted in some very clumsy challenges on Morsy. | 5.5 |
| Wes Fletcher Made some good runs but lacked the service required to test the Chesterfield defence. | 6.0 |
| Ryan Bowman On his first game back from injury he struggled against the strength of Evatt and Cooper. | 6.0 |
Substitutions
| Will Hayhurst On his debut the loan signing failed to make an impact. | 5.5 |
| Michael Coulson The same as Hayhurst and the man he replaced, Bowman, struggled to have an impact on the game. | 5.5 |
| Tom Platt Came on in the 87th minute with no time to effect the match. | 6.0 |
Chesterfield
| Tommy Lee Made a great save in the first half but on the whole a quiet night for the Spireite’s keeper. | 7.0 |
| Tendayi Darikwa Another solid performance from the winger playing at full-back. Kept the York left hand side very quiet for the whole match. | 7.5 |
| Ian Evatt A dominant performance from the skipper who won nearly every header and showed his class throughout the game. | 7.5 |
| Liam Cooper Yet another solid game for the ever improving young defender. Cool headed and good on the ball throughout the game. | 7.5 |
| Ritchie Humphreys The 36 year old PFA chairman had an excellent game up and down the left hand side, rarely beaten by Oyebanjo and Hayhurst. | 7.5 |
| Jimmy Ryan Kept the ball very well for Chesterfield in the middle of the park. Sloppy challenge to receive a booking. | 7.5 |
| Sam Morsy As Ryan did he kept the ball very well and was a constant energy in the Spireite’s midfield. | 8.0 |
| Dan Gardner Another impressive game in his second start for Chesterfield. His run with the ball to assist the second goal was something else. | 8.0 |
| Ollie Banks A quiet night for Banks but worked hard for the team with the odd moment of brilliance. | 7.5 |
| Gary Roberts A goal and an assist for the third game running for the ex-Huddersfield man. Proving yet again why he’s one of the best player in the division. | 9.0 |
| Eoin Doyle Put in a real shift up front for the new league leaders and really deserved his goal. Made some great runs to stretch the York defence. | 8.5 |
Substitutions
| Jay O’Shea Struggled on the heavy pitch to run with the ball but kept it moving and helped to kill the game. | 7.0 |
| Marc Richards The game was dead by the time he’d come on but held the ball up well and had a few good shots on goal. | 7.0 |
| Sam Hird Like the other two subs did well in seeing the game out for the Spireites. | 7.0 |
Man of the Match
| Gary Roberts Showed his class once again and well on his way to becoming the club’s top goalscorer. | 9.0 |
